At Thomas Trial, Jury Selection Focuses on Knicks

By RICHARD SANDOMIR

Published: September 11, 2007

Isiah Thomas spent four hours yesterday at his sexual-harassment trial across a square table from his accuser, Anucha Browne Sanders, listening as a pool of potential jurors was winnowed to 14.

Thomas, the Knicks' coach and president of basketball operations, and Browne Sanders said nothing to each other in the jurors' room on the 23rd floor of the Manhattan federal court, where Judge Gerard E. Lynch questioned the jurors to determine their fairness to serve.

The juror pool is to be cut today to a panel of six and two alternates, and opening statements are expected to follow.

The antagonists seemed to avoid eye contact despite their proximity. But barring a settlement, they will be in the same courtroom until around Sept. 27, battling over Browne Sanders's charges that Thomas cursed at her regularly and made unwanted sexual advances.

Thomas, 46, in a gray suit, looked relaxed, smiling occasionally, and at breaks in the questioning of the jurors, laughed with his three lawyers, all of them women.

He showed none of the seething anger that he displayed during a news conference in January 2006 after Browne Sanders, the recently-fired senior vice president of marketing for the Knicks, accused him in federal court of sexually harassing and verbally abusing her.

Browne Sanders, 44, in a cream-colored suit, appeared alternately stoic and nervous. She is suing for damages of $9.6 million.

James L. Dolan, a co-defendant and the chairman of Madison Square Garden, did not attend, and may not until he testifies. Dolan fired Browne Sanders in January 2006; in a deposition he said that the ''last straw'' was her tampering with the Garden's investigation into her accusations. The Garden, which is also a defendant in the case, was represented by Steve Mills, the president of MSG Sports.

Browne Sanders and Thomas heard a 39-year-old coffee trader describe how he was investigated ''13 or 14 years ago'' for improperly touching a female co-worker's arm.

''It was humiliating,'' the man said. ''I was shocked and devastated, too.''

He was struck from the panel, as was a woman who felt that her fairness would be compromised because she felt her brother had been wrongly sued for sexual harassment.

Robert Becker, a 28-year-old engineer from the Bronx, was rejected for his belief that a disproportionate number of basketball players get into trouble similar to Thomas's.

He added that he was no longer a Knicks fan, prompting Thomas to rest his head on the table. ''I kind of gave up on the Knicks when they signed Latrell Sprewell,'' Becker said.

Few of the potential jurors said they had any deep knowledge about Thomas, or the case, and only a few indicated that they would have difficulty if Lynch asked them to avoid reading or watching sports-related news to avoid accounts of the case.

One juror who made the group of 14, Irene Ray, a 58-year-old part-time receptionist, said she recognized Stephon Marbury, the Knicks' guard, who was said to have made vile comments about Browne Sanders, as the player ''with the $15 sneakers.''

Marbury is expected to be a witness during the trial.

Kathleen Bogas, one of Thomas's lawyers, questioned the objectivity of Tommy Vazquez, a 37-year-old maintenance worker and Knicks fan from the Bronx, who told Lynch that Thomas was a better talent evaluator than he was a general manager.

''He has an opinion about the team on trial in this case,'' she said.

In overruling her objection, Lynch said it would be a disservice to disqualify someone who follows the Knicks closely. ''The team isn't doing that well,'' he said, a circumstance that he said places the coach and general manager ''on the line.''

Browne Sanders and Thomas said nothing after the session.

But Sue Ellen Eisenberg, another Thomas lawyer, said in a statement: ''Anucha Browne Sanders did not work for Isiah Thomas. She did not report to him. Isiah did not hire her, he did not fire her, he never said he was in love with her and he never ever sexually harassed Ms. Browne Sanders.''

PHOTO: Knicks Coach Isiah Thomas arriving at a Manhattan federal court for the start of a sexual-harassment trial in which he is a defendant. (PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN MARSHALL MANTEL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)